As a result, Louis was generally portrayed in the white media as a clean-living, modest person, which facilitated his burgeoning celebrity status.[39] With the backing of major promotion, Louis fought 13 times in 1935. The bout that helped put him in the media spotlight occurred on June 25, when Louis knocked out a former World Heavyweight Champion, the 6'6", 265-pound Primo Carnera, in six rounds. Foreshadowing the Louis-Schmeling rivalry to come, the Carnera bout featured a political dimension. Louis' defeat of Carnera, who symbolized Benito Mussolini's regime in the popular eye, was seen as a victory for the international community, particularly among African Americans, who were sympathetic to Ethiopia, which was undergoing a territorial dispute with Italy.[40][41][42] America's white press began promoting Louis' image in as positive a manner as was possible for the times; nicknames created for Louis included the "mahogany mauler," "chocolate chopper," "coffee-colored KO king," "saffra sandman," and, one that stuck, "The Brown Bomber."[42][43] Helping the white press to overcome any reluctance to feature a black contender was the fact that boxing, in the mid-1930s, was in desperate need of a marketable hero. Since the retirement of Jack Dempsey in 1929, boxing had devolved into a sordid mixture of poor athletes, gambling, fixed fights, thrown matches and control of the sport by organized crime.[1] New York Times columnist Edward VanNess wrote, "Louis ... is a boon to ...